It's been about five years since Hyman, principal of Hyman Properties, began his attempt to transform the former Majestic Athletic factory building at 4154 and 4159 Roosevelt St. into 49 apartments.

A series of denials, appeals and court decisions have landed the project, which has historically drawn a crowd of neighbors in opposition, back before the zoners at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the township Municipal Building in what will officially be his third time there.

But this time a judge's ruling appears to grant the project the special exception needed to convert the building into apartments, leaving the question of how many apartments he can have.

Hyman said he enjoys seeking out industrial sites in disrepair and reviving them in the spirit of a re-imagined living space.

Hyman has targeted properties in Allentown, including the Livingston Apartments at 14th and Hamilton streets and a still-under-construction renovation at Linden Street and American Parkway.

"These buildings are an era gone by," he said. "They are built incredibly structurally sound. People don't just build like that anymore."

Hyman said his experience has only left him more puzzled about the pushback he's seen in the Roosevelt project.

Despite assurances that the apartments would rent monthly for $750 to $1,250 and no mention of low-income housing, Hyman said opponents at hearings over the years have alluded to concerns that the project would negatively change the demographic makeup of the neighborhood in the Egypt section of the township.

Township officials have declined comment.

The 46,000-square-foot building operated as a factory for decades until 2008 when VF Corp. shuttered it during a takeover of Majestic. Hyman bought it in 2009.

Reichley ruled Hyman proved the development would not adversely affect the community. But he said the case needed to go back to the zoners because they didn't sufficiently explain why they rejected the project over traffic concerns.

Malkames doesn't think the zoners should get a chance to explain.

"It's really nonsensical to suggest that this use is more detrimental than a factory was," Malkames said.

He said Hyman's engineer and a township engineer both testified they didn't foresee any added traffic as a hardship for the neighborhood.

"I have all kinds of cases in my office where I'd love to go back and fill in some of the missing pieces," Malkames said. "But that's not how it works. What is troublesome is [the judge is] giving the township, the board and neighbors another bite at the apple."

In returning the case to the zoners, Reichley also didn't buy Malkames' argument that the zoners should be barred from hearing the case again because of the mention of the Roosevelt Street project in a federal discrimination complaint filed by PathStone Housing Corp. of Pennsylvania.

PathStone filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development over the zoners' rejection of their plans to convert an old mill at 215 Quarry St. into low- to moderate-income apartments.

Still, Malkames said much of what Reichley laid out in his ruling is a victory for the developer. In the decision, the judge reversed the zoners' denial of the special use exception, meaning the only big question to answer is how large the apartments can be.

Hyman originally proposed 54 units, but now wants to build 49 apartments at 900 square feet each. But under the township ordinance, he needs a dimensional variance because he would only be allowed to have 19 units at 2,320 square feet each.

"These would be like mansion apartments. Nobody would rent them," Malkames said. "People looking for 2,500 square feet are going to buy a house."

In the meantime, Hyman said the drawn-out process is costing him money that should have gone toward the development. Though he's received tax relief on the site since he's been unable to develop it, Hyman is now facing fines for code violations after the township ruled he must have operating sprinklers inside the vacant mill.

Unless the township buys it back, Hyman said he's not changing his mind about his ultimate plans to repurpose the mill.

"We're going to build an apartment there. One way or another," said Hyman. "Every dollar I spend fighting this is a dollar less I can put in that project. That's the economics of it.

•July-September 2012: The apartment project, now reduced to 49 apartments, again goes before the zoners. This time Hyman brings experts to testify that new use would not be more detrimental than the factory. The project is ultimately denied by the board.

•November 2012: Hyman appeals the board's decision in the Lehigh County Court.

•July 2013: Lehigh County Judge Douglas Reichley, while critical of the board in his ruling, sides with zoners. Hyman appeals to Commonwealth Court.

•April 2014: The Commonwealth Court sends case back to Reichley, saying the zoners abused some of their discretion.

•December 2014: Reichley reverses the zoners' denial of a special use exception. But he orders case back to zoners to determine the question of dimensional variance over the number of apartments permitted.

•April 2015: Hyman requests special relief from Reichley, requesting that the zoners not be permitted to hear the case a third time.

•May 2015: Reichley denies that request and a hearing is set for June 16.